Desktop Publishing …

Projects In Development

Here at the Scriptorium we’re constantly working on new projects, drawing on material in our remarkable library of antique books of illustration, design and typography and on original designs as well. At any time we have 3 to 5 projects in various stages of development, from scanning images to designing fonts, to assembling material to create new packages of fonts and art. Development can take anywhere from weeks to years depending on the project.

One of our current projects is being developed based on art and lettering by Fanny Railton for her 1891 illustrated edition of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Railton is known for her fairy illustrations, and this book gave her plenty of opportunity to be creative with depictions of several distinct types of fairies, including traditional dragonfly-winged sprites and more unusual and goblinish moth-winged pixies. The illustrations are great, but perhaps the most interesting element is Railton’s beautiful hand lettering. We are going to develop two distinct fonts from it, one based on her title lettering which is in an elaborate artist’s style similar to our very popular Folkard font, and another in a simpler arts and craftsy pen style reminiscent of our Brandywine font based on Howard Pyle’s lettering.

We’ve had an ongoing super-project of developing a massive collection of ebooks and design resources based on the designs of Walter Crane. We’ve already released sub-packages for his Baby’s Opera and Baby’s Own Aesop. Also in development for this series are packages based on The Baby’s Bouquet which completes that trilogy, plus a complete package based on Pan Pipes which is another song book in the same style, but aimed at an adult audience, with some of Crane’s most extraordinary designs in it.

When completed the Walter Crane super package will also include fonts based on Crane’s designs like the recently released Walter Crane and Crane Gothic fonts, plus at least two more new fonts based on Crane lettering which are still in the planning stages.

Also in development is a new collection of fonts with a far eastern theme in the tradition of our historic theme packages like the Arabian Nights and Viking font and art packages. It will include fonts like Katisha, Cipango, Suchow and Yoshi Toshi plus two brand new fonts.

There’s much more than this in the pipeline, but these are some highlights to look forward to. Suggestions and recommendations are always welcome.